Advances in rapid and effective break-in/conditioning/recovery of automotive PEMFC stacks

Automotive proton exchange membrane fuel cell stacks need to meet manufacturer specified rated beginning-of-life (BOL) performance before being assembled into vehicles and shipped off to customers. The process of “breaking-in” of a freshly assembled stack is often referred to as “conditioning.” It has become an intensely researched area especially in automotive companies, where imminent commercialization of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) demands a short, energy- and cost-efficient, and practical conditioning protocol. Significant advances in reducing the conditioning time from 1 to 2 days to as low as 4h or less, in some cases without the use of additional inert gases such as nitrogen, and with minimal use of hydrogen, and specialized test stations will be discussed.     

Enhanced Power Density of Alcohol Biofuel Cell by Polymer-assisted Crosslinks of 3D Graphene on Carbon Paper as the Bioanode

Herein, we successfully construct the 3D biocompatible graphene through crosslinking 2D graphene nanosheet onto carbon fiber paper with poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDA) as anode of the alcohol biofuel cell. Compared with the bioanode without 3D graphene, the current density and output power of PDDA-graphene-ADH bioanode is increased by 23 % and 41 % at a high concentration of ethanol at pH 8.9, suggesting the stabilization role of graphene in enzyme loading. The study provides us a deep analysis on structures and performances of the bioanode incl. electrochemistry, X-ray photoelectron spectra, and atomic force microscopy images, which is significant to develop the new methods to construct 3D porous electrodes in energy conversion device.     

Biosynthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles using Euphorbia milii leaf constituents: Characterization and improved photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye under natural sunlight

A facile biosynthesis route was followed to prepare zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) using Euphorbia milii (E. milii) leaf constituents. The SEM images exhibited presence of spherical ZnO NPs and the corresponding TEM images disclosed monodisperse nature of the ZnO NPs with diameter ranges between 12 and 20 nm. The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis revealed that the ZnO NPs have specific surface area of 20.46 m²/g with pore diameter of 2 nm–10 nm and pore volume of 0.908 cm³/g. The EDAX spectrum exemplified the existence of Zn and O elements and non-appearance of impurities that confirmed pristine nature of the ZnO NPs. The XRD pattern indicated crystalline peaks corresponding to hexagonal wurtzite structured ZnO with an average crystallite size of 16.11 nm. The FTIR spectrum displayed strong absorption bands at 512 and 534 cm^?1 related to ZnO. The photocatalytic action of ZnO NPs exhibited noteworthy degradation of methylene blue dye under natural sunlight illumination. The maximum degradation efficiency achieved was 98.17% at an illumination period of 50 min. The reusability study proved considerable photostability of the ZnO NPs during photocatalytic experiments. These findings suggest that the E. milii leaf constituents can be utilized as suitable biological source to synthesis ZnO NPs for photocatalytic applications.     

Edge-enriched graphene with boron and nitrogen co-doping for enhanced oxygen reduction reaction

Carbon-based electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), especially in anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs), have received a lot of attention because they exhibit excellent stability and are comparable to commercial Pt/C catalysts. Currently, to maximize the catalytic activity of carbon-based electrocatalysts, there are two major strategies: heteroatom doping or exposing active edge sites. However, the approach of increasing heteroatomic dopants of active edge sites has been rarely addressed. In this study, we present a simple strategy to prepare edge-enriched graphene catalysts with an increased ratio of heteroatomic dopants suitable for ORR of AEMFCs. The catalysts were prepared under harsh oxidation conditions, followed by a simple co-doping process with boron and nitrogen. The ORR activity of the catalysts was observed to be related to an increase of edge sites with heteroatomic dopants. We believe that the edge-enriched structure leads to accelerated electron transfer with enhanced oxygen adsorption.     

Concurrent multiresponse non-linear screening: Robust profiling of webpage performance

Profiling engineered data with robust mining methods continues attracting attention in knowledge engineering systems. The purpose of this article is to propose a simple technique that deals with non-linear multi-factorial multi-characteristic screening suitable for knowledge discovery studies. The method is designed to proactively seek and quantify significant information content in engineered mini-datasets. This is achieved by deploying replicated fractional-factorial sampling schemes. Compiled multi-response data are converted to a single master-response effectuated by a series of distribution-free transformations and multi-compressed data fusions. The resulting amalgamated master response is deciphered by non-linear multi-factorial stealth stochastics intended for saturated schemes. The stealth properties of our method target processing datasets which might be overwhelmed by a lack of knowledge about the nature of reference distributions at play. Stealth features are triggered to overcome restrictions regarding the data normality conformance, the effect sparsity assumption and the inherent collapse of the ‘unexplainable error’ connotation in saturated arrays. The technique is showcased by profiling four ordinary controlling factors that influence webpage content performance by collecting data from a commercial browser monitoring service on a large scale web host. The examined effects are: (1) the number of Cascading Style Sheets files, (2) the number of JavaScript files, (3) the number of Image files, and (4) the Domain Name System Aliasing. The webpage performance level was screened against three popular characteristics: (1) the time to first visual, (2) the total loading time, and (3) the customer satisfaction. Our robust multi-response data mining technique is elucidated for a ten-replicate run study dictated by an L₉(3⁴) orthogonal array scheme where any uncontrolled noise embedded contribution has not been necessarily excluded.     

从废水到新能源:光催化燃料电池的优化与应用

随着经济的飞速发展,社会对能源的需求日益扩大,对工业废水的无害化处理也提出了更高的要求。光催化燃料电池 (photocatalytic fuel cell, PFC) 在燃料电池中引入半导体光催化材料作为电极,实现了有机污染物高效降解和同步对外产电的双重功能,在废水无害化与资源化利用方面具有潜在的应用价值。半导体光催化电极是PFC系统高效运行的核心组件,增强其可见光响应和光生载流子分离是提高PFC性能的关键策略。反应器结构设计和运行参数优化也有利于改善PFC性能。本文从PFC基本原理和应用入手,综述了PFC在环境污染物资源化处理中的研究进展,并详细阐述了提高PFC的污染控制性能和产电效率的优化手段,为进一步设计高效稳定的PFC系统并实现其在水污染控制和清洁能源生产中的应用提供理论指导。     

Nano-sized Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes and their use as a precursor for synthesis of CuO and ZnO nanoparticles: A study on their sonochemical synthesis,characterization, and DNA-binding/cleavage,anticancer, and antimicrobial activities

Two new divalent copper (C1) and zinc (C2) chelates having the formulae [M(PIMC)₂] (where M = Cu(II), Zn(II) and PIMC = Ligand [(E)-3-(((3-hydroxypyridin-2-yl)imino)methyl)-4H-chromen-4-one] were obtained and characterized by several techniques. Structures and geometries of the synthesized complexes were judged based on the results of alternative analytical and spectral tools supporting the proposed formulae. IR spectral data confirmed the coordination of the ligands to the copper and zinc centers as monobasic tridentate in the enol form. Thermal analysis, UV-Vis spectra and magnetic moment confirmed the geometry around the copper center to be tetrahedral, square pyramidal and octahedral. Study of the binding ability of the synthesized compounds with Circulating tumor DNA (CT-DNA) bas been evaluated applying UV-Vis spectral titration and viscosity measurements. The copper and zinc oxides were achieved from the copper and zinc nano-particles structures Schiff base complexes as the raw material after calcination for 5 hr at 600°C. On the other hand, synthesized of C1 and C2 NPs were used as suitable precursors to the preparation of CuO and ZnO NPs. Finally, the synthesized of the two complexes exhibited enhanced activity against the tested bacterial (Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia Coli) and fungal strains (Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus) as compared to HPIMC. Among all these synthesized compounds, C1 exhibits good cleaving ability compared to other newly synthesized C2.     

Path to achieving molecular dispersion in a dense reactive mixture

A uniform dispersion of reactants is necessary to achieve a complete reaction involving multicomponents. In this study, we have examined the role of plasticizer in the reaction of two seemingly unlikely reactants: a highly crystalline hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) and a strongly hydrogen bonded phenol formaldehyde resin. By combining information from NMR, infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry, we were able to determine the role of specific intermolecular interactions necessary for the plasticizer to dissolve the highly crystalline HMTA and to plasticize the phenol formaldehyde resin in this crosslinking reaction. The presence of the plasticizer increased the segmental mobility, disrupted the hydrogen bonded matrix, and freed the hydroxyl units, which further increased the solubility of the HMTA. Both the endothermic and exothermic transitions are accounted for in the calorimetric data obtained. For the first time, it is possible to obtain the effective molar ratio of each component needed to complete the crosslinking reaction efficiently. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015 , 53, 1519–1526     

Simultaneous quantification of leukotrienes and hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids in cell culture medium using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

Leukotrienes (LTs) and hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids (HETEs) are important bioactive lipid mediators that participate in various pathophysiological processes. To advance understanding of the mechanisms that regulate these mediators in physiological and pathological processes, an analytical method using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry for the simultaneous quantification of LTB₄, LTC₄, LTD₄, LTE₄, 5‐HETE_, 8‐HETE, 12‐HETE and 15‐HETE in cell culture media was developed. A Supel?‐Select HLB solid‐phase extraction cartridge was used for sample preparation. The compounds were separated on a C₁₈ column using gradient elution with acetonitrile–water–formic acid (20:80:0.1, v/v/v) and acetonitrile–formic acid (100:0.1, v/v). The calibration curves of LTB₄, LTD₄, LTE₄ and HETEs were linear in the range of 0.025–10 ng/mL, and the calibration curve of LTC₄ was linear in the range of 0.25–10 ng/mL. Validation assessment showed that the method was highly reliable with good accuracy and precision. The stability of LTs and HETEs was also investigated. Using the developed method, we measured LTs and HETEs in the culture supernatant of the human mast cell line HMC‐1. The present method could facilitate investigations of the mechanisms that regulate the production, release and signaling of LTs and HETEs. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

单层n型MoS2/p型c-Si异质结太阳电池数值模拟

单层二硫化钼(MoS₂)是一种具有优异光电性能的半导体材料,在太阳能能量转换中表现出很大的应用潜力。本文基于AMPS模拟软件,对单层n型MoS₂/p型c-Si异质结太阳电池进行了数值模拟与分析。通过模拟优化,n型MoS₂的电子亲和能为3.75 eV、掺杂浓度为10¹⁸ cm^-3,p型c-Si的掺杂浓度为10¹⁷ cm^-3时,太阳电池能够取得最高22.1%的转换效率。最后模拟了n型MoS₂/p型c-Si异质结界面处的界面态对太阳电池性能的影响,发现界面态密度超过10¹¹ cm^-2·eV^-1时会严重影响太阳电池的光伏性能。